End of the Road
by ScribeOfRemedy
Summary: Prompt: what does Noctis see when he passes over to the astral plain?


It was nice here. Warm, but not uncomfortably so, with plenty of room to stretch out over the soft carpet of green grass, the prickly texture brushing under his nose as he curled into a content ball. The perfect spot for a nap. It'd be a crime not to take advantage. There was no road noise, just the gentle breeze sliding in through the trees and making the leaves dance in the wind as he soaked up the dappled sunlight shining down on his face. _Wait._

Noctis sprung up to his knees and stared at the bright sun peeking through the intertwined branches above. The sun that was supposed to have been absent for the last ten years. "I guess we really did it."

They'd brought back the dawn. The demons were history. People could go back to having normal lives again and his friends – he didn't doubt they had survived guarding the Citadel and he couldn't be prouder of them. The world was in good hands, but now he was alone. The quiet that moments ago had been refreshing and peaceful, now felt oppressive, a reminder that there wasn't another soul around.

Or so he thought. Movement caught his eye from the path leading out of the modest clearing. A small figure was heading his way, tiny paws silent on the thin dirt trail.

"It's you." Noctis held out his hand in greeting for the little fox.

Carbuncle eagerly butted his head up against Noctis' palm, careful of his ruby horn poking into sensitive skin, and chirped happily. Noctis began to run his fingers through soft, pristine fur while using his free hand to pull his vibrating phone from his back pocket.

 _:It's good to see you, Noct! smiley face emoji_

Noctis smiled down at the brief text. "Yeah, I didn't think I'd ever be seeing you again."

 _:You've got one more journey ahead of you and I wouldn't miss it for the world. There's someone who's been waiting to see you._

 _Another journey?_ Even more concerning was the second piece of information Carbuncle had volunteered. "Someone's waiting for me?" Noctis glanced around the glade, wondering who could possibly be waiting for him in this place. There was something vaguely familiar about the tranquil forest. It could have easily been anywhere in the Duscae wilderness if not for the ephemeral blue wisps gently floating up from the grassy floor.

 _:Yep! They've really missed you, but knew you'd make it. Come on, I know the way!_

Carbuncle pulled away from Noctis' hand and started back down the trail with an almost impatient yip.

Noctis rose to his feet with the air of a weary adult indulging a small child, slowly walking after the dream guardian into a rocky ravine. If his sedate pace was off putting for the small fox Carbuncle didn't show it. He trotted along only a few paces ahead of his friend, tail swaying lazily behind unhurried steps.

It was only after they passed under a low stone archway that Noctis addressed the strange sense of déja vu he was feeling. "Hey, do you know where we are? This place feels kinda familiar."

 _:You might not recognize it, but we're on the plane of the Astrals._

Noctis almost tripped over his own feet and dropped his phone. "What? The astral plane, how could I have ever been here before?"

Carbuncle glanced up at Noctis, eyes looking a bit sad.

 _:It was a long time ago. Don't you remember the first time we met?_

"The dream, after the marilith attack." _Sensations of horror and_ _darkness, a terrible monster, his father shouting his name and being brought a phone of all things by the Atrals' smallest messenger._ Noctis was starting to remember now. Carbuncle had guided him through a forest just like this one when he couldn't wake up after a snake daemon had injured him on an innocent outing to see the fireflies.

 _:That's right! You were chosen as a very small child and I was sent to help when you were in trouble._

"But if we're really on the astral plane, why is it fading?" Now that Noctis vaguely remembered this place, he could definitely tell something wasn't right. Pieces were just missing. There should have been more trees, more noise and just more life. It was like the color had been bleached from the world. What remained of the landscape looked like an aged photograph. An ominous fog stayed persistently just out of reach, whiting out everything in the distance. After sliding down a steep knoll they approached a rocky creek bed that brought forth memories of splashing in cool pools of shallow water, but the bed was dry with not even a trace of tacky mud to come away on the red soles of his boots.

 _:It's fading because the time of the Astrals is over._

Noctis wasn't sure how to feel about that. "They're dying too?"

Carbuncle's ears laid back.

 _:They all gave the last of their essence to you in order to bring back the dawn. Their magic was sacrificed to remove the scourge from our star, and now they can no longer maintain this world. It's ending._

The ravine opened up at the edge of a quaint, little lake that had seemed so much grander in his dreams all those years ago. Now the water was completely still, the once impressive waterfall on the other side all dried up. Noctis could no longer feel the breeze on his face. He had the instinctive itch to summon one of his swords. "Weren't there daemons here before?"

 _:You don't have to worry about that! Not even the nightmares can survive here anymore._

Carbuncle continued on, completely incautious, toward the water's edge. A golden ring glowed brightly just beneath the surface. It was more than large enough to encircle them both and served as a barrier between realities in this dreamlike place. Together they both jumped through the ring.

Noctis gasped and choked as he rose out of the water, feeling inexplicably small in his father's favored dining room in the Citadel. He remembered this now. Even as an adult he couldn't have been over a couple of inches in height in comparison to everything else in the room, which made the place seem gigantic. A suddenly much larger Carbuncle waited patiently for him to crawl out of the water dish. Noctis, wringing his drenched shirt on the stained wood floors, barely stood as tall as the fox's mid-thigh. The fog had followed them from the forest and seemed to crowd in on them even closer. With the exception of the one at his back, Noctis couldn't quite make out the other three walls of the room. "We're looking for the block castle right?"

 _:That's right, you remembered! confetti emoji But it's a long way on tiny legs. Why don't you hop on?_

Carbuncle kneeled down low, allowing the chosen king to climb up onto the fox's shoulders and fist his hands into the soft, white fur. Noctis spared a moment to feel the slightest bit jealous that the fox's coat was warm and not even a bit damp. Carbuncle slipped into a comfortable gate and headed towards the large table near the back of the room.

Last time toy blocks had been set up around the dining table in a great wall just as Noctis had been prone to arrange during his childhood when he grew bored of waiting for his father to join him. Now it was like a storm had hit, blocks and various other knick knacks thrown every which way in an angry tantrum. The room looked unfamiliarly bleak under the spell of muted colors and overbearing silence.

The stairway Noctis had used to scale the table in his dream was completely destroyed, unrecognizable in the strewn debris of cutlery, magazines and the imitations of his childhood playthings, so Carbuncle requested he hang on tightly before springing up onto one of the chairs not neatly tucked in under the table. With one final leap, the fox got them on the table top and Noctis slid down to walk the rest of the way. The surface had been cleared of the fancy, porcelain tea set his father had adored, but the block castle was still standing, if barely, at the opposite end of the table. The front two spires and archway had been haphazardly knocked over but thankfully the tunnel housing the golden ring was still mostly intact.

After shoving aside a few stray blocks, Noctis crossed over to a world of white. The dreary streets that greatly resembled Altissia were completely devoid of color. He almost expected the place to be in ruins much like the last time he'd seen the city after Leviathan's rampage, but this place was not damaged in the same way. Archways, businesses and people's homes were simply gone, erased from existence instead of collapsed into the street and the canals were empty.

 _:It's not much further now._

Back to normal, Carbuncle nearly disappeared in all the white. His fur blended in against the colorless walkway seamlessly, to the point that he was a little hard to follow, but the click of his claws against the hard stones helped.

Noctis tried not to step on his friend as he looked around the ivory city. He took note of all the missing pathways and bridges. The real Altissia had been almost maze like with more nooks and crannies then they'd ever had time to explore. Now so much was just _wrong_. "Earlier you said the Astrals sacrificed their magic to end the scourge and stop the darkness. Does that mean there's no more magic? What about the guys? Can Prompto, Gladio and Ignis still summon from the armiger or cast?"

Carbuncle paused at the top of the stairs where there'd once stood a decorative wireframe sculpture of Bismarck breaching over a large fountain. The statue was absent now, along with all the vender carts that used to crowd the fountain. The portal to the Citadel was just ahead.

 _:The magic tied to the line of Lucis is gone forever, but just as shadows will always cling to the edge of the light, magic will still be hidden in Eos, held in the hands of the few._

Noctis swallowed. He worried for his friends. The demons may be gone, but there were plenty of other dangerous enemies they'd had to ward off in their travels.

 _:You should have faith in your friends. Living through the years of darkness made them strong. They won't go down without a fight._

Idly, Noctis wondered how Carbuncle always knew what he was thinking. Maybe it was one of his weird powers. "You're right, I shouldn't doubt them now." He confidently walked through the passage leading to the final portal.

The imposing stairway to the Citadel lied before him unguarded by iron giants or any of the other monsters Noctis had imagined to be waiting for him. Even Ifrit himself wouldn't have been much of a surprise, but all was quiet. No one stood in his way.

Carbuncle stopped at the edge of the steps.

 _:You are expected inside._

"Guess I better not disappoint." Noctis stated up to the Citadel doors, but paused on the fourth step when he didn't hear the familiar click of Carbuncle's claws on the solid concrete. "Hey, you coming?"

Carbuncle didn't move to follow.

 _:This is it for me. I can go no further. You'll have to continue on your own from here._

Noctis returned to the bottom of the stairs and stooped down in front of the fox. "Wait, what's going to happen to you?"

 _:My purpose is complete, my last message delivered. I had a lot of fun traveling with you Noct! But now you don't need me anymore._

"What? No, not you too." Noctis hugged the fox close, feeling the impossibly soft fur brush against his face and trying to will the small presence to stay. "Please, don't go."

 _:I'm sorry. Please don't be sad._

There was a gentle stroke against Noctis' cheek, like moist sandpaper, before Carbuncle pressed in further against him like he was trying to return the embrace the only way he knew how.

 _:Goodbye, Noct._

Then Carbuncle was gone, like a mirage swept away by the wind. It was so unfair.

Noctis looked down where fresh teardrops spotted the pavement next to his discarded phone. The screen had gone dark. "I guess I really can't protect anyone."

The sun didn't move here, so Noctis wasn't sure how long it took him to compose himself and enter his old home. The Citadel appeared to be protected from the deterioration of the rest of this world. Everything was just as Noctis remembered it before he left on that fated roadtrip seemingly a lifetime ago. Even the elevators worked. It felt like he was walking right into another one of Ardyn's sadistic traps, but there's no snide commentary when the elevator dropped him off at the top floor or as he walked past the ancient painting he'd defaced as a child. Besides, Ardyn was gone. Noctis knew in his heart that it was someone else waiting for him, someone he'd wanted to see for a long time.

He swung open the doors to the throne room and couldn't help but stare. The space was always designed with regality and intimidation in mind. The dark creatures painstakingly sculpted along the walls behind the impressive, curving stairs leading up to the throne have seen to that. But now the ominous black tones of the room have been muted by elegant bouquets and soft white cloth artfully hung throughout the space. Sylleblossom petals gracefully float down from the ceiling like snow. And there she stood in the middle of it all, dressed in an immaculate, white dress and looking like the grand center piece in an awe inspiring display. _Beautiful._

"Luna!" When their eyes meet it's like coming out of a trance and Noctis rushed up the steps to meet her.

Luna offered him the most brilliant smile. "Noctis. I'm happy to see you."

Once before the girl he left behind in Tenebrae only to lose again in Altissia, Noctis found his words had died on his tongue. Nothing he could say would ever be enough. "Luna I — I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

Luna's smile became a touch regretful. "This is not something for which I would begrudge you taking your time. Were it possible, I would be pleased to see you remain alongside your friends."

Noctis' heart ached at the reminder of the guys. "I'm really gonna miss them, but they'll be okay now, I think. There's gotta be so much for them to do, they really don't need me hangin' around and slacking off." _They're gonna rebuild the world after all. Bet Iggy's already got it all planned out too._

"I'm certain you would have been of greater aid than you realize." Luna held out her hand. "Walk with me?"

Noctis blinked. "Uh, sure. I mean, of course."

He took her hand in his and together they walked the rest of the way up the curved stairway until they were standing before the throne. Noctis flinched at the sight, feeling the phantom pain of the Lucian Kings fusing their souls to his. "You know, I never really liked this place. I used to think dad wanted to be here in this room more than he wanted to spend time with me, but I was just being a brat. I really wish I could have talked to him one last time before everything."

Luna looked down at the seat of the king with him. "You did not know what was to come. Your father wanted to give you more time. It was easy to see King Regis loved you with all his heart."

"Yeah." Noctis scrubbed at the moisture forming in the corner of his eye. _Why was this so hard?_ He always struggled to put his feelings into words, but he couldn't give up and hold his silent, not this time. "Luna, I – I want to know, was the wedding something you ever wanted? I get it if it wasn't. I mean, we haven't been in the same room since we were kids."

It took a moment for Luna to reply and Noctis found he was holding his breath. "… I was certainly not opposed to the idea. I have often wished to return to those days so long ago when we used to laugh so freely. Perhaps it is presumptuous of me, but I'd rather like to experience that with you again, Noctis." Luna glanced away slightly, a little more color in her completion than was normal warming her features.

Noctis' blush was not so subtle. "Oh, Luna, I — really?"

Luna's shy nod was his answer.

"That's great! Um, that's to say, I'd like that too." Noctis nervously rubbed his hand along the back of his head. It still surprised him how long his hair had gotten. That was going to take some getting used to.

Luna looked back and met his eyes hopefully. "Well, we have time now."

"Yeah, sit with me?" He had so much more to say.


End file.
